Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in an interview on Tuesday that a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot ''probably will'' be offered to every American.
In an interview with SiriusXM's Doctor Radio's ''Doctor Radio Reports'' with Dr. Marc Siegel, the host asked Collins if a booster shot for COVID-19 will be extended to everyone.
Collins replied, ''I think it probably will,'' and added: ''Look at Israel. You can also see breakthrough infections starting to lead to hospitalizations in people younger than 65 in Israel. And they've started giving boosters way back the last day of July.''
The NIH director also said: ''So you can also see that this is not just a promise of additional benefit. You're reducing severe infections in that older group by at least tenfold in the space of just 12 days after getting that third shot, which is pretty darn dramatic.
''And I think what you started out saying earlier all fits together here. That you have those memory B cells, they've been churning away there, by the way, they've not just been static, they've been enlarging, their repertory of the antibodies they can make using this somatic hypermutation thing that B cells can do.
''So they're ready and they just get this push from the booster like, 'Oh, boy, spike protein. We'd better get busy.' And look what happens: 12 days later, that person is 10 times less likely to get infected,'' Colins said.
He went on to say that it's ''been disheartening to see'' the pandemic get politicized, which he said ''has gotten people very confused'' and caused ''a lot of harm to happen to innocent people.''
Collins said: ''I'm not a politician. I'm a scientist, I'm a doctor. It has been disheartening to see ways in which politics has gotten all mixed in with public health needs in a way that's really not been good for our nation and has gotten people very confused.
''And to have your decision-making about vaccination, or mask-wearing, or all kinds of other things depend more on your political party than on the facts of the public health evidence is not a good thing for the future of a nation that prides itself on being based on technology and evidence.''
He added: ''We've kind of lost our way here in the way in which COVID-19 has been managed. I hope we can figure out how to step away from that, how to start really valuing the sources of truth and putting aside all of the crazy stuff that's out there on social media, which I think has gotten a lot of harm to happen to innocent people.
''And that is really a serious threat and a serious challenge for our country going forward.''